Journal of

Journal of Mining and Metallurgy, 45 A (1) (2009) 49 - 57 Mining and

Metallurgy

TUNNEL ANALYSIS IN FAULT ZONES AND THE EFFECTS OF STRESS

DISTRIBUTION ON THE SUPPORT

Milenko Ljubojev*#, Mevludin Avdić**, Mile Bugarin*,

Ratomir Popović* and Dragan Ignjatović*

*
Mining and Metallurgy Institute Bor, Zeleni bulevar 35, 19210 Bor, Serbia
**
University of Tuzla, Mining, Geology and Faculty of Civil Engineering,
Univerzitetska 2, 75000 Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina

(Received 27 August 2009; accepted 16 November 2009)

Abstract

Tunnel or any other underground room construction in general is a complex problem. The
complexity of the problem is reflected in the spatial position of underground room, which may
be close to the surface terrain and environment in which the object is located. In many cases
environment is heterogeneous, and special attention in this work is given to the fault zone
impact on distribution of the stress and deformation states around the room.
The calculations is performed in steps of load increasing, and in this work are given the
views of vertical shifts allocation, the appearance of plasticity in the massif and the position of
occurrence of cracks in the tunnel screening. It also presents a distribution of vertical and
tangential stress of the massif.
Analysis of stress – deformation state was made with the finite element method. Rock
material was modeled as elasticity-plastic material with Mohr-Coulomb fracture condition and
the support material is concrete MB 300 and it was modeled as concrete material.

Key words: rock massif, fault zone, stress - deformation state, finite element method.

1. Introduction high values of safety factors eliminate the

Design and built tunnels assumed
isotropic environment and tunnel routes
are simplified with this assumption.
However, rock massif is expressed with
greater or less anisotropy. The
calculations are taken with less value of
geomechanical parameters, which with
consequences of these approximations.
Today we meet with the situation that the
tunnels that are built under one conditions
found in the other conditions. These
changes are mainly related to the change
of the vertical component of the load (the
construction of embankment above the
tunnel). Load changes above underground

#
Corresponding author: milenko.ljubojev@irmbor.co.rs
50 M. Ljubojev et al. / JMM 45 A (1) (2009) 49 - 57
facility will cause a stress – deformation
change in the status of massif, which may
be reflected on the tunnel or its parts. As
the first exposed are areas that are in the
engineering geological terms classified in
the zone of risk. Checking the impact
changes of the vertical components values
must be made, and in this paper is given
an example of assessment of increasing
the amount of deferred mass on the tunnel
construction.
2. Describe of the problem
Necessity of increasing capacity of
flotation tailing dump, and also increasing
overtop of the dams 1A, 2A and 3A to the
level of K+385 m has brought along
evacuation of Krivelj´s river by two
tunnels: the one that already exists, and
the other one who will be located on the
right bank of the flotation tailing dump.
For delay of flotation tailing, open pit
mine “Veliki Krivelj” uses an area, got by
partitioning of the Krivelj’s river valley.
In the beginning of the mine work, the
area near flotation objects was taken (field
1) for tailing dump. Flotation tailing dump
expanded in 1990 by taking extra space of
the Krivelj’s river valley, downstream
from field 1.
Table 1. Geomechanical parameters
Parameters
Young's Modulus E (MPa)
Poisson's ratio ν
Cohesion c (MPa)
Tensile strength σz (MPa)
Friction angle φ (0)
Density  (kg/m3)
Flotation tailing dump is bordered with
dams 1A and 2A, which were projected to
the level of K+375 m, and with total
capacity of 94,3·106 [m3].
New flotation tailing dump (field 2) is
bordered with dams 2A and 3A, which
were projected to the level of K+350 m,
and with total capacity of 89,4·106 [m3].
Considering that the dams were
projected to the level of K+350 m,
including fact that it is possible to store
flotation tailing dump only till the middle
of this year (2008), it is necessary to
ensure increasing level of the dams up to
the K+385 m.
Therefore, Krivelj’s river (figure 1) has
to be evacuating by:
- existing tunnel (zone of the field 1);
D = 3,0 [m] and L = 1.414 [m],
- new built tunnel; D = 3,0 [m] and
L = 2.400 [m], along the right bank of the
flotation tailing dump.
Construction of new tunnel on the right
bank of the flotation tailing dump makes
possible increasing level in the field 2,
which significantly increase capacity of
storage space (approximately 83,3·106
[m3]) [6].
Geomechanic characteristics of the
massif, in which is considered a problem
and characteristics of the support material
are given in table 1.
sandstone marl concrete
213 173 24800
0.4 0.34 0.15
4.5 3.5 -
0.18 0.11 4.1
38 26 -
2457 2000 2500
 M. Ljubojev et al. / JMM 45 A (1) (2009) 49 - 57 51

3. Calculation of stress-deformation concrete material. Load modeling of the

state
Analysis of stress – deformation state
was made with the finite element method.
Rock material was modeled as elasticity-
plastic material with Mohr-Coulomb
fracture condition and the support material
is concrete MB 300 and it was modeled as
dumped mass was carried as balanced
load with the intensity gdyke * Hdyke.
Performed calculating model is shown in
Figure 3, as well as the position of the
fault zone, based on engineering-
geological description of the location in
which the elements of fault position in
space are given.

Figure 1. Model for finite element method analysis

52
Embankment load activity is simulated
with increasing of intensity of the
continuous load, where the value 1 shows
the current state of dumped mass (TIME
3) and values over 1 represent increase of
stockpiling height of the masses. The
1.1
1
time function value
0.9
0.8
0.7
0.6
0.5
0 0.5
Figure 2. Increase load function
4. Analysis of calculation results
The calculations is performed in steps
of load increasing, and in this work are
given the views of vertical shifts
allocation, the appearance of plasticity in
the massif and the position of occurrence
of cracks in the tunnel screening (Figures
3a and 3b for the first variant, and Figures
5a and 5b for the second variant). It also
presents a distribution of vertical and
tangential stress of the massif (Figures 4a
and 4b and Figures 6a and 6b).
M. Ljubojev et al. / JMM 45 A (1) (2009) 49 - 57
calculation is done with two variations of
the position of layers:
- Variant 1 with sandstone above and
- Variant 2 Marlon above (in the ceil-
ing of the room).
Time function 1
1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5
time
The end of solution convergence was
after 4th steps, i.e. after increasing the
amount of 10% compared to the previous
level of dumping. The first version of the
position of the layers observed a large
number of cracks in support elements,
while in the second variant the number
and position are quite different. Also, in
the second variant we have significantly
different timing and intensity of plastic
deformation. However, common to both
variants is that increasing of the level over
10% presents great risk, compared to the
previous height.
 M. Ljubojev et al. / JMM 45 A (1) (2009) 49 - 57 53

3a)

3b)
Figures 3a and 3b. Vertical displacement, plastic deformations
and cracking for 1st variation of the layers position
54 M. Ljubojev et al. / JMM 45 A (1) (2009) 49 - 57

4a)

4b)
Figures 4a and 4b. Distribution of the vertical and shearing stress
in massif for 1st variation of the layers position
 M. Ljubojev et al. / JMM 45 A (1) (2009) 49 - 57 55

5a)

5b)
Figures 5a and 5b. Vertical displacement, plastic deformations
and cracking for 2nd variation of the layers position
56 M. Ljubojev et al. / JMM 45 A (1) (2009) 49 - 57

6a)

6b)
Figures 6a and 6b. Distribution of the vertical and shearing stress
in massif for 2nd variation of the layers position
 M. Ljubojev et al. / JMM 45 A (1) (2009) 49 - 57
5. Conclusion
The work indicates the possibility of
applying numerical analysis to assess the
conditions of exploitation of underground
facilities. The paper gives an example of
applying FEM, and elasticity-plastic
analysis of the problem of increasing the
embankment above the tunnel. The
validity of the resulting data would be
complete if the analysis took into account
the time factor. Influence of time factor is
6. References
1. Adina R&D AUI 8.5.2. Brady B. H.
G, Brown E.T., Rock mechanics for
underground mining, Springer Science
+ Bussiness Media, (2005).
2. De Souza Neto E. A., Peric D. and
Owen D.R.J., Computational methods
for plasticity: theory and application,
John Wiley and Sons, LTD Publica-
tion, (2008).
3. Klaus-Jiirgen Bathe, Finite element
procedures, Prentice-Hall, Inc. ISBN
0-13-301456-4, (1996).
4. Ljubojev M., Popović R., Geo-
mechanical basis, (in Serbian), RTB
Bor, Copper Institute Bor, (2006).
57
very important, since dumping material
has to consolidate and hardening, which is
a positive feature, but on the other side,
under the influence of load screening
changes its properties. To obtain better
data it is necessary to check the
characteristics of the tunnel screening and
the parameters of previously dumped
mass. If there are observation dates of
landmark’s points in the tunnel, calcula-
tion could be making with elasticity –
viscous - plastic analysis.
5. Ljubojev M., Popović R., Bugarin M.,
Deformation pressure of support
stiffness and characteristics of rock
massive on "Krivelj’s river”, tunnel
route, (in Serbian), Mining works
journal, 2/2008, Bor, (2008).
6. Ljubojev M., Popović R., Ignjatović
D., Đurđevac Ignjatović L., Necessity
of transposition manifold of Krivelj’s
river, 40th International October
conference on Mining and Metallurgy,
5th – 8th October 2008, Sokobanja,
Serbia, (2008).
7. Ljubojev M., Popović R., Project of
geological, physical and mechanical
rock researches on tunnel line for
relocation of the Krivelj’s river, (in
Serbian), Bor, (2007).